BMW has bowed to consumer fears over the distance electric vehicles can travel
and will install back-up petrol engines in its new i3 battery-driven cars.

The decision was made after the German manufacturer conceded that range
anxiety — fear that a car will run out of power before it reaches a
recharging point — was still too great. It is a further setback for the
electric car revolution.

The expected fast take-up of electric vehicles — EVs — has stalled because of
the cost of battery technology and the slow emergence of charging
infrastructure. Nissan, a market-leading investor in electric, no longer
expects to